The Stronghold 2: Immortals

Photographs

Once his eyes had adjusted to the light Loki looked around. He'd walked into a dining room, a long glass table taking up most of the room with chairs scattered around it. Cabinets lined the walls with a small space in the corner reserved for a computer desk. Photographs and ornaments were arranged inside the cabinets and as Loki went over to look at them memories filled his head. 

The first few pictures were all stupid ones of them all goofing around. They looked younger there with all of the adults he'd seen outside in the picture as teenagers. Pepper was there too and Loki noticed a tiny bit of resentment in his own eyes. Moving on to the next few pictures he saw ones that were clearly taken in action, a water fight captured forever and a walk in sun-lit woods immortalised. The common factor in the pictures was that Pepper got steadily more and more cropped out and Shaade was nowhere to be seen.

Soon the photographs got even more recent. A picture of a smiling baby in a tiny blue jumpsuit, that same baby looking a little bit bigger in dungarees, the baby walking, playing, getting older with each photo. There was one of the baby staring at a candle in the middle of a little cupcake and the next photo showed him with cupcake all over his face, a grin shining out from the middle of it. The hair was downy and blonde at first but darkened to a more gingery colour as the pictures went on. Each birthday was represented by a small set of photographs and they stopped at five so Loki assumed that Dean was five years old. 

In the next cabinet there were ornaments, dusty dogs and playing cats. At the back of it all there was a winged angel made out of black marble, head down and fingers splayed. Something about it reminded the demigod of Shaade and he picked it up carefully, examining it and turning it over in his hands.

"That just turned up one day," Georgina said from behind him making the demigod jump. "A week or so ago. I was wondering when you'd notice it." She wandered off again and Loki set down the statue, staring at it for a while longer before moving on. His fingers trailed over the edge of the wood and he passed more photographs, pausing as he reached the most recent set. They had been taken by someone else and were of two people, siloheutted against a sunset. One was tall and had their arm around the other, shorter and long haired. Their heads rested together and the photograph was the most peaceful thing Loki had ever seen, the sun casting a pink glow over the lake that was in front of the people. It didn't look real but the longer he looked at it the more he remembered. Each photograph unlocked a 'memory' for the demigod and this one brought happy feeling, contentment and slight sleepiness. He stifled a yawn and smiled at the photograph before going to sit down at the computer. It was logged on and a video was ready to be played. Loki pressed play and sat back to watch.

*

"Dean, come back!" Georgina shouted as Dean hared off down a dirt track. She sighed and brushed the hair from her face, folding her arms as the boy vanished from sight.

"He needs a leash," she grumbled. "He's got far too much energy."

"I wonder who he gets that from?" Loki wondered aloud, a slight teasing tone in his voice. A pine cone was thrown at the camera and laughter sounded from off shot. 

"May I remind you that you were perfectly happy to sit down and binge watch Supernatural with me," Georgina snapped.

"I know, and I regret it," Loki said. "I can't face spooky stories any more. But at least I know why you called him Dean."

"You agreed to it," Georgina shot back.

"Let's just hope he doesn't become a hunter, mm?"

"That'd be better than what we do," Georgina said tiredly. The camera bobbed closer and dropped slightly. 

"You like your job," Loki said quietly. "You've been going on about becoming an actress since school started."

"Yeah, but I'm away so much," she said. "Sometimes I worry that Dean will just forget me. He certainly listens to you more than me." 

"I'm scarier," Loki said. "Plus I can put his teddy where he can't reach it."

"I told you to stop doing that."

"And I have, but the threat remains."

Georgina laughed softly. "I'm glad you have a boring job."

"Being a YouTuber is not boring," Loki said, offended.

"You can at least do it at home. I have to be all over the world."

"And yet the videos let you see what's going on," Loki said gently. "You may be miles away but it honestly feels like you're there with us."

There was silence for a few seconds and the camera dipped even further. The next sound to be heard was Dean shouting:

"Stop kissing and come play!"

*

Loki smiled to himself and played out the rest of the memory in his mind, piecing together his 'normal' life as he did so. He was a YouTuber with millions of subscribers. The internet loved Dean and any videos with his son in got even more views. Loki was good at editing and his channel was titled 'Loki'd' where he mainly did stupid challenges, dares and pranks. It was great fun, even if he did make a mess, and he was taking a day off from editing to appear at the barbecue. Why was there a barbecue again? Ah yes, to celebrate Rebecca and Salt's engagement. It had been a massive shock when Salt announced it; he'd been chasing Becca since year seven and she rejected him every time, mostly violently. For some reason she'd mellowed and actually spoken to him and Salt had been the happiest person on earth. Loki could still remember when Salt had bounced up to him and told him to make sure Rebecca didn't stab him, he was going to tell everyone about their engagement, don't tell anyone else, can you do that please? Loki had promised and Salt wasn't stabbed.

Now, where did Pepper fit in? Oh yes, Loki remembered. Pepper had been one of the most popular people in school with his inventions being hankered after by pretty much everyone. He had chosen to join their odd little friendship group and got Georgina to date him by asking her publicly, in front of the entire school. If she said no then the majority of the school would reject her and never speak to her again. If she said yes she became some sort of queen. If she told him to 'piss off' (as she did) she got a detention but Pepper persisted, only going home when she finally said yes. Their 'relationship' didn't last long. Loki recalled the moment when it all stopped and his brows furrowed into a frown as he did so.